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Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53 (1982)

Chapter: William David Coolidge

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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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Suggested Citation:"William David Coolidge." National Academy of Sciences. 1982. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/576.
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WILLIAM DAVID COOLIDGE October 23, 1873-February 3, 1975 BY C. G. SUITS TUNGSTEN, X-RAYS, AND COOLIDGE form a trinity that has left an inclelible impression upon our life and times. The key word in this trial] is Coolidge, for his work brought the element tungsten from laboratory obscurity to the center of the inclustrial stage and gave the X-ray a central role in the progress of medicine throughout the worIcI. William David Coolidge was born in Hudson, Massachu- setts, near Boston, on October 23, IS73, and he died on February 3, 1975 in Schenectady, New York. His father, Albert Edward, was a shoemaker by occupation, but he sup- plementect his income by running a farm of seven acres. His mother, Martha Alice, was a dressmaker in her spare time. Will attencled a grade school about a mile from town, where one teacher presided over the six gracles. He was a good student and was likes! by his classmates. After school each day, as an only chilc! of his parents, he had a regular routine of farm chores. This, however, left room for fishing (summer and winter), baseball, hiking, skating, and primitive skiing. Photography became a lifelong hobby, and during this period he built a basement darkroom ant! constructed! his own camera, including the shutter. After grade school Will attended Hudson High School where, in due time, he graduates! valedictorian in his class of 141

142 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS thirteen. En route, he quit school for a while and took a job in a local factory manufacturing rubber garments. After a few months he decicled that this was not a very good Plea, ant! he went back to school, where he caught up with his class without difficulty. He had assumed that, with very limited family financial resources, he would not be going to college at the end of the school year. His plans changed when a friend who had been impressed by his scholastic recorc! and his mechanical and electrical aptitudes suggested that he might be able to obtain a state scholarship for MIT. He ap- plied, the grant was awarded, and in the fall of IS91 he went to Boston to continue his stuclies. At the time MIT was "Boston Tech" and consisted of three buildings that accommociatec] 1,200 students. The perioc! was one of growing interest in science ant! engineering, and the . . ~ . . . Opportunities tor engineering grac ~uates were numerous in industry. Except for the Military Academy at West Point, MIT was the only institution of learning then offering an engi- neering degree. Will enrollee! in electrical engineering, which incluclect some chemistry ant! mathematics and a modicum of litera- ture, moclern languages, and philosophy, in acldition to pro- fessional engineering courses. In the chemistry course he came under the instruction of Professor Willis R. Whitney, which turned out to be the start of a long ant! happy relation- ship. Will was an excellent student, especially in his labora- tory assignments and in his practical shop work, and the shops at Boston Tech were better than anything he hac! ever seen before. To see what industry was like, he spent the summer between his junior anc! senior years at the East Pitts- burgh plant of Westinghouse Electric. TIIness kept him out of school for a year, so he graduates! with the class of IS96. By this time he sensed that engineering practice was not

WILLIAM DAVID COOLIDGE 143 exactly what he wanted; he had a greater interest in his science studies ant! the research orientation of his laboratory work. He therefore took a position as an assistant in physics at MIT. During the year he became aware of the possibility of obtaining a fellowship that would permit graduate study in Europe. He applied and obtained a grant for the following year, and he selectecl Leipzig for graduate work, influenced by the counsel of Professor Whitney, who hacI done graduate work there, and by the presence of Professor Paul Drude at that institution. The scholarship wouIcl not cover all of the costs of European graduate stucly, but Will was able to obtain a loan from a friend. Will arrived in Liepzig well in advance of the fall term, ant! he audited the physics lectures of Professor Gustav Wiedemann, who advised him not to formally register until the fall term in October. In the interim, he set out to improve his German by talking to German students at every oppor- tunity, by avoiding contacts with English and American stu- dents, anti even by attending German church services. He lived with a German family who gave him a constant oppor- tunity to talk in German. All of this- board and room—cost $20.00 a month! When the October term started, Will developec! close rela- tionships with Crude and Wieclemann. Both were interested in his research and often dropper! in to see him and to discuss their progress. During vacations Will took short trips to Italy and Bavaria, where he covered every tourist opportunity at very low cost, taking photographs that he developed in an improvised darkroom in Leipzig. In Will's second year at Leipzig, he became lecture assis- tant to Drucle, which helped his finances and provides! a new experience. Looking ahead to the time when he might finish his doctorate, he wrote to MIT concerning a teaching position

144 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS there. Meanwhile his research had progressed well, and he started to assemble his dissertation, which was publishec! later in Annalen der Physik. One clay cluring that winter, the celebrated Professor Wilhelm C. Roentgen visited Leipzig ant! the Physikalishes Institute. Drucle's assistant~oolidge hac! a chance to talk with Roentgen and was much impressed by the experience. Will clicin't know it at the time, but his later research wouIc! serve to provide the major embodiment for the practical use- fuiness of Roentgen's X-ray discovery. Later in the second school year, Will decided that, with luck, he might complete his dissertation and tackle his doc- toral examinations, the basic requirements for a degree, by late summer. In July he received high marks in all of his examinations and was awarder! the doctorate summa cum laucle. His application for an MIT teaching position coincides! with an opening in the Physics Department, so Will Coolicige was back in Boston for the fall term in 1899. The following year he became a research assistant to Professor Arthur A. Noyes of the Chemistry Department, where, to his surprise, he remainec! for five years. In an adjacent laboratory, he became reacquainted with Dr. Whitney, who was then com- muting to Schenectady during the formative years of the new General Electric Research Laboratory there. To Coolicige's complete surprise, Whitney offered him a job. He visited GE and accepted the offer in 1905. The new Research Laboratory was located in an ancient building in the Schenectady plant, anc! at that time the total employment was about thirty, inclucling several MIT grad- uates. The new laboratory's growth rate was limited by the availability of people of the quality Whitney wanted. At that early period, persuading a university scientist that he might have a career in industrial research was not accomplishes]

WILLIAM DAVID COOLIDGE 145 easily nor often. Whitney, however, was developing an aca- demic atmosphere, inclucling weekly research meetings where members reported upon their work ant! occasionally heard talks by invited scientists. The laboratory was also achieving a modicum of credibility and prestige in its inclus- trial setting because of the success of its early work. Dr. Whit- ney's improvements in the lamp filament were coming to market at about the time Dr. Coolidge joined the laboratory. This 1am p~alled the GEM lamp—was about three times more efficient than Eclison's lamp, and it alone more than paid for the company's investment in the Research L.abora- tory up to that time. Dr. Coolidge was devotee! to his research work, but not to the exclusion of social contacts. Letters to his parents at that time macle it clear that he was enjoying his friendships with Dr. and Mrs. Whitney and numerous colleagues in the Re- search Laboratory, and that he had met a number of young ladies. One of these ladies was especially attractive, and on December 30, ~ 908 he married Ethel WoodwarcI, the daughter of the president of a local bank, in Granville. A daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Lawrence, were born to this marriage. Early in ~ 9 ~ 5 Ethel became seriously ill ant! cried at the hospital in February of that year. Dorothy Elizabeth MacHaffie, a graduate nurse from Ellis Hospital, was engaged by Will to help his mother with the two children at home. Dorothy was a charming person and, about a year later, she and Will were married. Lamp research and experimentation were proceeding apace in the U.S. anct in Europe during that period, and it is not surprising that Coolidge caught some of the excitement. Welsbach, of gas mantle fame, produced a lamp with a f~la- ment of osmium. The powderer! metal was extruded with a binder, then sintered and mounted in the bulb. The resulting lame was extremely fragile. The same process was used with

146 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS tantalum powcler with similar results. lust and Hanaman, in Vienna, used the same process to produce a tungsten fila- ment. The resulting lamp showed greatly improved light pro- duction, but the problem of brittleness remained. Dr. Coolidge first got into the lamp filament problem by way of tantalum, but he quickly switched to tungsten. Mean- while, General Electric purchased rights under the lust and Hanaman patent, anti Dr. Whitney himself started making tungsten filaments by that method. Coolidge found that these sinterec! filaments wouIc3 lose some of their extreme brittle- ness if they were passed through a rolling mill with heated rolls. This was the first clue that suggested that tungsten was not necessarily brittle uncler all physical circumstances. Coolidge's observation was a very important "foot in the floor." After three more years of painstaking research on this intractable metal, a process was developed by means of which tungsten was macie sufficiently ductile at room temperatures to permit drawing through diamoncl dies. Close control of working temperatures, of tungsten powder grain size, and of trace metal adclitions, particularly thorium, contributed to the final successful result. Lamps made with ductile tungsten filaments appeared on the market in 1911, and they have clominated the lighting industry ever since. All of the numerous alternative lamp filament processes were abandoned. Needless to say, Whit- ney, Coolidge, ant! the new Research Laboratory gained great stature as a result of this work. Another very important happening at about this time was the occasion, in 1909, when Irving L~angmuir joined the new laboratory. He came from Gottingen by way of Stevens In- stitute, and his cloctoral thesis hac3 concerned heat transfer in gases at high temperatures. The lamp filament involvecl such processes, ant! Langmuir soon set up experiments that showed that the light output of Coolidge's new lamp could be

WILLIAM DAVID COOLIDGE 147 doubled if inert gas replaced the high vacuum. This gas-f~led lamp with a ductile tungsten filament was about ten times more efficient than Edison's lamp, ant! it soon became the stanciard of the worIc! for indoor lighting. At about this time, Coolicige was appointee! assistant director of the Research Laboratory. In 1914 he was awarded the Rumford Medal of the American Academy of Arts ant! Sciences, the first of a long series of menials and honors that marked his career (see appenclecI list.) The availability of tungsten as a workable metal was a new fact of industrial life that came from Coolicige's work, and the application to the incandescent filament was only the first use of this remarkable metal. Tungsten exhibits the highest melt- ing point in the periodic table, extremely low vapor pressure, great mechanical strength, and many other unusual proper- ties. Its application to a great variety of industrial uses pro- ceeded apace. Because of its high melting point and good electrical conductivity, Coolidge explored its use as an elec- trical contact for switching devices. At that time plantinum was a favorer! material for electric contacts in telegraph keys, relays, and small control equipment. It was questionable whether tungsten wouIcl be suitable for this purpose because, unlike platinum, it oxidizes readily at high temperatures. For many types of contacts, however, tungsten performed very well and showed much greater contact life than platinum. Coolidge made a trip to Dayton to show the new contacts to Charles Kettering, who became very enthusiastic about tungsten for auto ignition contacts. Ever since, tungsten has been the material of choice for this application. Roentgen had announced his discovery of X-rays in IS95, en c! this important event created worIc~wicle interest, espe- cially among medical men who saw the X-ray as a possible diagnostic tool. While Coolidge was still at Boston Tech, he worked with Dr. F. H. Williams, one of the pioneers in the

148 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS medical application of the new tube, and Coolidge retained an interest in X-rays when he came to Schenectady in 1~905. Perhaps it was the success of the replacement of platinum with tungsten in contacts that kincIled a new interest in the X-ray tube, which then employocl a platinum anocle. The early X-ray tube was full of gas and its operation was very erratic, even in the hands of a skilled practitioner. As Coolidge got into the X-ray tube study, he found that the three principal parts the cathode, the anocle, and the "vacuum" environment were all sources of erratic perform- ance. The gas was requires! to produce ions, which pro- ducect electrons by bombardment of a cold aluminum cathode. Langmuir was then in the midst of a comprehensive study of electron thermionic emission, and he found that he could get controllable electron emission from one of Coolicige's hot tungsten filaments in the complete absence of gas, in other worcts at high vacuum. Coolicige immediately installed a heated tungsten filament in an X-ray tube with a tungsten disk anode. This tube was heated and outgassecI until all evidence of gas ionization ctisappearect. The tube became the first stable ant! controllable X-ray generator for mectical anct dental use, and it rapidly replaced the gas-fi~led tubes in this country and throughout the world. Dr. Coolicige was in touch with many physicians and radiologists during the progress of his X-ray studies, and one of them, Dr. Lewis G. Cole of New York, was the first to have his office equipped with the new tube. He was extremely enthusiastic about the performance of this tube, and he soon sponsored! a dinner in a New York hotel where Coolidge demonstrated the new tube to a large group of prominent radiologists. At this ([inner, Dr. Cole christened the new gen- erator the "Coolicige Tube," which was later aclopted by the General Electric Company as the product name, and it has since been used widely by the mectical ancI ciental professions.

WILLIAM DAVID COOLIDGE 149 The success of the Coolicige Tube brought much recogni- tion and many new honors to its inventor. It greatly ex- pancled the use of X-rays, not only in dentistry and medicine, where therapeutic as well as diagnostic applications grew, but in industry, where they were being used increasingly for non- destructive testing. For many years following the introcluc- tion of the Coolicige Tube, Coolidge himself was in the midst of continuing refinement of this generator: to very high volt- ages for deep therapy applications, to higher power for in- dustrial use, anct to finer definition for improved diagnostics. To the end of his career he retainer! an intense interest in X-rays anc! their applications. In 1917 it became evident that the involvement in World War I by the U.S. was unavoidable. The GE Research Labora- tory and Dr. Whitney became increasingly concerned with the possible role they could play in such an event, ant! clevel- opment of a submarine detection system was an obvious chal- lenge. Allied shipping was being sunk at a far greater rate than it couIct be replaced, and some solution of this problem was urgently needecl. The depth bomb was an effective wea- pon if the submarine couIct be located, which was the key problem. Prior to the entry of the U.S. into the war, the GE Research Laboratory became involved in war work through the Naval Consulting Board, on which Dr. Whitney served. A joint attack on the problem of submarine detection was planned involving GE, the Submarine Signalling Company, and West- ern Electric. An experimental station was set up on the Mo- hawk River, near where the GE Research ant! Development Center was located years later. Coolicige soon found that sealed rubber binaural listening tubes provided excellent range of about two miles with an azimuth sensitivity of about five degrees. This crevice went into service on U.S. and British vessels as the "C" Tube" for Coolicige. A later version, the

150 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS "K" tube, developer! a range of ten miles with an azimuth sensitivity of ten degrees. These devices permitted submarine chasers to clear the Mediterranean of submarines in the spring ant! summer of 1918 and were an important factor in the final outcome of the war. The Coolidge tube was aciaptec! to a fielc! X-ray unit for use in World War I, anc! it became a major meclical tool in field hospitals, where many practi- tioners became acquainted with it for the first time. In the period following World War I, the Research Lab- oratory under Whitney grew in stature and influence, both within the company and in the scientific community. Lang- muir's work on electron emission and surface chemistry found many important applications, including radio broacT- casting and reception. Albert Hull was one of three scientists (with Debye and Scherrer) to develop X-ray diffraction in crystalline materials. His studies of gas-fi~led electron tubes helped open up the field of inclustrial electronics. Coolicige continued to expand the usefulness of X-rays by the develop- ment of million-volt, high-power generators for medical therapeutic work and multiple industrial uses. The year 1932 was an important year for the laboratory, for Coolicige be- came director upon the retirement of Whitney, and in the same year Langmuir became the first American inclustrial scientist to win the Nobel Prize. By the time WorIcI War IT broke out, the appreciation of the role of science and technology in the national defense establishment was well clevelopecl, and through the leacler- ship of Dr. Vannevar Bush, a massive national research and development program was mounted to aid the war effort. The Office of Scientific Research and Development iden- tifiecl the areas of opportunity; organized the effort in uni- versity, industrial, and government laboratories; and pro- vided the necessary financial backing. Coolidge became involvecl in the atomic bomb investigation from the begin-

WILLIAM DAVID COOLIDGE 151 ning as a member of President RooseveIt's Advisory Commit- tee on Uranium. In 1940 Dr. A. O. Nier of the University of Minnesota and Drs. K. H. Kingdon and H. C. Pollock of the GE Research Laboratory isolated U235 for the first time, and showed that it was the fissionable isotope. This author be- came a member of Division ~ 3 of the NDRC (microwave radar) and chairman of Division ~ 5 (radio and radar counter- measures), and both subjects became active areas for the par- ticipation of the GE Research Laboratory in the war effort. Coolicige had planned to retire about the time Worm War IT began in Europe, but because of the pressure of wartime work he agreed to stay on beyond his normal retirement. At the war's conclusion he resumed his plans for retirement, and he proposed that ~ succeed to his position, which ~ die! on January I, 1945. In retirement, Coolidge retained an active interest in X-ray research. He continued to receive recogni- tion in the form of awards and medals for the impressive work of his career, even through his one-hundreth birthday, and he continued the photography hobby that (late(1 from his boyhood in Massachusetts. Although some of the milestones in Will Coolic3 ye's remarkable career have been suggested above, this biography would be incomplete without words of appreciation for his personal qualities, which were equally impressive. Kindness and thoughtfulness in dealing with friends and associates were attributes that were deeply imbedded in his nature. ~ cloubt if anyone ever heard him raise his voice in anger. His modesty was almost embarrassing, and he always viewed the accomplishments of his associates more generously than they themselves. He was greatly beloved by everyone who was privileged to be associated with him, and in the world of science, including medical science, he was regarded with deep reverence, as evidences] by the unprecedented award from the University of Zurich of a Doctorate of Medicine.

152 BIOGRAPHICAL M E M OIRS Will Coolidge was blesses! with remarkable health throughout his very active lifetime, and he retained a keen mind into his late nineties. He cried on February 3, 1975, at the age of one-hundred-ancI-one. We revere his memory. REFERENCES Baxter, James Phinney III. Scientist Against Time. Boston: Little, Brown, 1946. Birr, K. A. Pioneering in Industrial Research. Washington, D.C.: Public Af- fairs Press, 1957. Broderick, John. Willis Rodney Whitney. Albany, N.Y.: Ft. Orange Press, 1945. Coolidge, William D. "Autobiography." Typescript. N.Y.: Center for the History of Physics, American Physical Society. Hammond, John Winthrop. Men and Volts. Boston: Lippincott, 1941. Hawkins, Lawrence A. Adventures into the Unknown. N.Y.: William Morrow, 1950. Liebhafsky, Herman. William David Coolidge. N.Y.: John Wiley & Sons, 1974. Miller, John Anderson, Yankee Scientist. Schenectady, N.Y.: Mohawk Devel- opment Service, 1963. Suits, C. Guy. Speaking of Research. N.Y.: John Wiley & Sons, 1965. Suits, C. Guy, and Way, Harold E., eds. The Collected Works of Irving Lang- mnir. N.Y. : Pergamon Press, 1962.12 vole. Westervelt, Virginia Veeder. The World Was His Laboratory: The Story of Willis R. Whitney. N.Y.: Julian Messner, 1964.

WILLIAM DAVID COOLIDGE HONORS AND DISTINCTIONS MEDALS AND AWARDS 153 1914 Rumford Medal, American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his invention of ductile tungsten. 1926 Howard N. Potts Medal, the Franklin Institute, in considera- tion of the originality and ingenuity shown in the develop- ment of a vacuum tube that has simplified and revolution- ized the production of X-rays. Louis Edward Levy Gold Medal, the Franklin Institute, for his paper on "The Production of High Voltage Cathode Rays Outside the Generating Tube." 1927 Gold Medal, the American College of Radiology, in recogni- tion of his contribution to radiology and the science of . . . mealclne. Hughes Medal, the Royal Society, London, for his work on the X-rays and the development of highly efficient appa- ratus for their production. Edison Medal, the American Institute of Electrical En- gineers, for his contributions to the incandescent electric lighting and the X-ray arts. 1932 Washington Award, the Western Society ot Engineers, In recognition of devoted, unselfish, and preeminent service in advancing human progress. 1937 John Scott Award, the City Trusts of the City of Philadel- phia, based on his application of a new principle in X-ray tubes. . ~ _ 1939 Faraday Medal, the Institution of Electrical Engineers of England, for notable scientific or industrial achievement in electrical engineering. 1940 Modern Pioneer Award, the National Manufacturer's Asso- ciation, awarded to Dr. Coolidge as "A Modern Pioneer." 1942 Duddell Medal (18th), the Physical Society of England, in recognition of his invention of the Coolidge X-ray tube. Orden al Merito, the Chilean Government, for his many · . ... . services to clvlllzatlon. 1944 Franklin Medal, the Franklin Institute, in recognition of his contributions to the welfare of humanity, especially in the field of the manufacture of ductile tungsten and in the

154 BI OGRAPHI CAL MEMOIRS field of improved apparatus for the production and con- trol of X-rays. 1952 K. C. Li Medal and Award (first recipient), Columbia Uni- versity, for meritorious achievement in advancing the science of tungsten. 1973 1953 Henry Spenadel Award, the First District Dental Society, for distinguished and significant contributions to dentistry. 1963 Roentgen Medal, the Society of the Friends of the German Roentgen Museum, to individuals of Germany and other countries who have helped in the advancement and dis- semination of Roentgen's discovery in both the scientific and practical aspects; or who have been of especial service to the German Roentgen Museum. 1972 Power-Life Award, Power Engineering Society of the IEEE, for his contributions to the science of X-rays, the medical profession, and the welfare of humanity. Schenectady Patroonship Climax Molybdenum Wedgwood Medallion, for pioneering work leading to the invention of ductile tungsten and molybdenum. William D. Coolidge Award, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine HONORARY DEGREES Doctor of Science, Union College, June 1927 Doctor of Science, Lehigh University, tune 1927 Doctor of Medicine, University of Zurich, September 1937 Doctor of Laws, Ursinus College, October 1942 Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Sao Paulo, November 1945 Doctor Honoris Causa, National School of Engineering, University of Brazil, November 1945 Doctor of Science, Catholic University of Chile, November 1945 Doctor of Engineering, Indiana Technical College, May 1947 SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS National Academy of Sciences American Academy of Arts and Sciences Washington Academy of Science (Vice-President, 1931 American Association for the Advancement of Science American Chemical Society (Emeritus Status)

WILLIAM DAVID COOLIDGE American Electrochemical Society American Institute of Electrical Engineers (Fellow) American Physical Society American Institute of Chemists Sigma Xi American Philosophical Society Edison Pioneers Eta Kappa Nu (Eminent Member) HONORARY MEMBERSHIPS 155 The American Roentgen Ray Society The American Radium Society The Radiological Society of North America American College of Radiology The Roentgen Society, of England Societe de Radiologie Medicate, de France Nordisk Forening for Medicinisk Radiologi, Scandinavia The Pan-American Medical Association Societe Franchise des Electriciens Medical Society of the County of Schenectady The Dental Society of the State of New York The Franklin Institute Brazilian Institute for Study of Tuberculosis Brazilian Society of Medical Radiology Paulista Medical Association Chilean Society of Radiology Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile Faculty of Biological and Medical Sciences of the University of Chile Argentine Electrotechnical Association Sociedad Peruana de Radiologia Sociedad Argentina de Radiologia American Academy of the History of Dentistry Odontological Society of Lyon, France CORRESPONDING MEMBERSHIPS Brazilian Academy of Science National Academy of Exact Physical and Natural Sciences of Lima Societe Franchise des Electriciens

156 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Dr. Coolidge published more than seventy papers. Some of the more impor- tant are lasted below. 1903 With A. A. Noyes. Electrical conductivity of aqueous solutions at high temperatures. Proc. Am. Acad. Arts Sci., 39~71:163-219. 1908 With A. A. Noyes. The electrical conductivity of aqueous solutions. II. Original apparatus and method. Conductivity and ionization of NaC1 and KC1 up to 306 degrees. Carnegie Inst. Washington Publ., 63:~55. The electrical conductivity of aqueous solutions. III. Later modifi- cations of the apparatus and method. Carnegie Inst. Washing- ton Publ., 63:59~7. 1910 Ductile tungsten. Trans. Am. Inst. Electr. Eng., 29, part 2:961-65. 1914 A powerful Roentgen ray tube with a pure electron discharge. Phys. Rev., Ed series 2, no. 6:409-30. 1925 Modern X-ray tube development. I. Franklin Inst., 199:619~8. High voltage cathode rays outside the generating tube. Science, 62:441~2. 1926 With C. N. Moore. Some experiments with high voltage cathode rays outside the generating tube. J. Franklin Inst., 202:721-34. 1931 With L. E. Dempster and H. E. Tanis, fir. High voltage cathode ray and X-ray tubes and their operation. Physics 1~4~:230~4.

WILLIAM DAVID COOLIDGE 1932 157 With C. N. Moore. Experimental study of cathode rays outside of the generating tube. Congress International d'Electricite, Sec- tion 1, Rapport no. 19, 18 pp. Also in: Gen. Electr. Rev., 35~8~:413-17. 1942 The role of science institutions in our civilization. Science, 96(2497):411-17. 1945 A plea for more fundamental research effort. Science, 119~3082~: 110-11. PATENTS Dr. Coolidge received eighty-three U.S. patents. Some of the more important are lasted below. 1909 935,463. Dies and Die Supports. 1912 1,026,382. Metal Filaments. 1,026,383. Metal Filaments. 1,026,384. Metal Filaments. 1913 1,082,933. Ductile Tungsten. 1915 1,153,290. X-Ray Targets. 1917 1,211,092. X-Ray Tubes. 1,211,376. Electron Discharge. 1,215,116. X-Ray Apparatus. 1925 1,529,344. X-Ray Apparatus. 1,541,627. X-Ray Apparatus. 1,543,654. X-Ray Apparatus. 1939 2,181,724. Electrostatic Machines.

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Biographic Memoirs: Volume 53 contains the biographies of deceased members of the National Academy of Sciences and bibliographies of their published works. Each biographical essay was written by a member of the Academy familiar with the professional career of the deceased. For historical and bibliographical purposes, these volumes are worth returning to time and again.

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